Availability
Restrictions
General Note
Preferred Citation
Acquisition
Processing information
Arrangement
Biography of Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel
Scope and Contents
Title: Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel photograph collection
Date (inclusive): 1932-1969
Creator:
Mieth, Hansel
Creator:
Hagel, Otto
Extent:
2.95 Cubic Feet
(5 oversize boxes)
Collection number: larc.pho.0010
Accession number: 1989/091
Repository:
Labor Archives and Research Center
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
Abstract: Collection contains the photographs of Hansel Mieth (1909-1998) and Otto Hagel (1909-1973).
Physical Location: Collection available on site.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English.
Availability
Collection is open for research.
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Labor Archives and Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
General Note
Mieth and/or Hagel titled most of the photographs on verso. Bracketed titles were most likely supplied by previous archives
staff and documented on verso of photographs or inventory list and have been edited by cataloger. Collection contains photographs
that were taken in series but were not necessarily numbered consecutively, so many are located in different boxes. Some photographs
in series have the same title but are often variations on a subject. Duplicates are noted at the item level in the finding
aid.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel Photograph Collection, larc.pho.0010, Labor Archives and Research Center,
San Francisco State University.
Acquisition
Donated by Hansel Mieth. The materials in this collection came from multiple accessions: 1989/091; 1991/110; 1991/111; 1993/030;
1993/062; 1994/051; 1996/074; 1998/049; 1998/052.
Processing information
Processed in 1998 by Sherri Nevins. Revised in 2015 by Frances Wratten Kaplan, and Wendy Welker in 2018.
Arrangement
Arranged as received. The photographs in this collection are arranged in numerical order, 1 through 228.
Biography of Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel
Hansel Mieth (1909-1998) and Otto Hagel (1909-1973) were both born in Germany but immigrated to the United States in 1930
and 1928 respectively. Arriving in the midst of the Great Depression, the couple ended up finding work as farm laborers in
rural California, experiencing firsthand the dismal living conditions of the migrant worker. Hagel and Mieth bought a used
camera and started documenting the lives of the agricultural workers around them. Their photographs of cotton pickers and
their families, of shanty towns ("Hoovervilles") around Sacramento, and of waterfront workers in San Francisco, established
Mieth and Hagel as socially conscious documentary photographers.
In 1937, Mieth accepted a position as LIFE magazine staff photographer, while Hagel continued to work as a freelancer for
publications such as Time, LIFE, and Fortune, as well as producing photographs for two books published by the West Coast longshoremen's
union. Both Hagel and Mieth continued to capture images of America's working poor and bring attention to civil liberties and
labor struggles. In 1943, on assignment for LIFE magazine, Hagel and Mieth photographed Heart Mountain Japanese American internment
camp, although these images were never published by the magazine. In the 1950s, like many politically active individuals,
they were brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) but refused to testify against friends in the labor
movement and were blacklisted as a result. Mieth lost her job with LIFE and work became scarce. The couple, who officially
married in 1940, retired to a working ranch they had bought in Santa Rosa. Some of their later works document civil rights
marches, the work of longshoremen in San Francisco, and the lives of the Pomo Indians of Northern California.
Scope and Contents
Collection comprises images of rural California migrant workers and their families; Salinas lettuce strike; shantytowns in
Sacramento; waterfront docks and longshoremen in San Francisco (including several of Harry Bridges); Pomo Indians; Mare Island
shipyards and workers; Heart Mountain Japanese internment camp; civil rights marches; children from government program Head
Start; San Francisco State College faculty; Jack London's house in Glen Ellen; Fort Ross; Lee Goldblatt and John Nixon wedding;
New York City, including the New York Stock Exchange; World War II soldiers and sailors; Pacific Maritime Association; one
photo each of Monterey County fishermen, Vietnam War protest, and the American Nazi Party in New Jersey. Collection contains
portraits of singer Odetta, architect Timothy Pflueger, artist Hermann Volz, industrialist Henry Kaiser, Tom Mooney in jail,
Jack London's wife, Charmian, violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and photographer Imogen Cunningham participating in a civil rights
march. Collection also includes self-portraits of Mieth and Hagel.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Agricultural laborers -- California -- Photographs.
Migrant labor -- Photographs.
Strikes and lockouts -- Agricultural laborers -- California -- Photographs.
Cotton Pickers -- Photographs.
Stevedores -- California -- San Francisco -- Photographs.
Pomo Indians -- California -- Photographs.
Civil rights demonstrations -- Photographs.
Photographic prints.
Photojournalism.
Bridges, Harry -- Portraits.
Heart Mountain Relocation Center (Wyo.) -- Pictorial works.